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Predict your A-Level Results 2019

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i doubt that further maths gives no advantage with normal maths. in fm, surely ure building on normal a level maths so you're strenghtening and practising the skills u already have. e.g if algebra is involved in fm, ure spending extra time working with algebra whereas other students are doing a subject unrelated to maths. this itself works as a placebo too. anyways surely, fm will give students much higher confidence bc they feel like they're more prepared than other students bc they have a more mathsy background.

Original post by MagnumKoishi
Further maths gives no advantage in normal maths exams. I do further maths, yet used no techniques outside the single maths spec in my single maths exams.
The fact that 70% of the students do further maths doesn't mean that 70% are advantaged BECAUSE of furher maths. Instead, it means that 70% of the students are likely to already be of fairly high ability and THEREFORE take further maths too
(edited 4 years ago)
Original post by anonymoussse
i doubt that further maths gives no advantage with normal maths. in fm, surely ure building on normal a level maths so you're strenghtening and practising the skills u already have. e.g if algebra is involved in fm, ure spending extra time working with algebra whereas other students are doing a subject unrelated to maths. this itself works as a placebo. anyways fm surely gives fm students much higher confidence bc they feel like they're more prepared than other students bc they have a more mathsy background.



It probably is true that it allows people to practise skills such as algebra, but it's nothing that single maths students couldn't easily achieve by revising. The techniques themselves learned in FM aren't very useful though in single maths

Also, most students take it as their fourth or fifth subject in addition to the ones they already do, so it doesn't replace any other subjects.

You are definitely right in that it gives extra confidence; it's not obvious how much of a material effect this would have though
I don’t know but I’m crapping myself, hopefully I get at least ABB, really was aiming for AAA but I think I’m too stupid lol
Original post by Paypurr
I don’t know but I’m crapping myself, hopefully I get at least ABB, really was aiming for AAA but I think I’m too stupid lol

Same, I really want AAA but I will still be happy with ABB, anything below seems like my hard work has gone to waste
Original post by MagnumKoishi
It probably is true that it allows people to practise skills such as algebra, but it's nothing that single maths students couldn't easily achieve by revising. The techniques themselves learned in FM aren't very useful though in single maths

Also, most students take it as their fourth or fifth subject in addition to the ones they already do, so it doesn't replace any other subjects.

You are definitely right in that it gives extra confidence; it's not obvious how much of a material effect this would have though


In Edexcel this year FM students had a massive advantage. Sigma notation is barely given a mention in SM but is extensively covered in FM so the questions in paper 2 would’ve been a lot easier for a FM student. Plus there was a question that could be done by difference (prove the sum to infinity is 2)- that is a FM method that SM people couldn’t use. It’s certainly an advantage.
My guess:

•

Maths - A*

•

Further Maths - A*

•

Physics - A/A* (didn't think much about the third paper so don't know how it went)

•

History - C

•

STEP II - S/1

•

STEP III - 1/2

Original post by The RAR
Same, I really want AAA but I will still be happy with ABB, anything below seems like my hard work has gone to waste


Totally, I worked so hard and revised so much but the real exams completely throw me off. I mean I did so many past papers and it seems like the real thing is never like the previous papers and they just wanna ruin your life on purpose lol
Original post by stimtothesky
In Edexcel this year FM students had a massive advantage. Sigma notation is barely given a mention in SM but is extensively covered in FM so the questions in paper 2 would’ve been a lot easier for a FM student. Plus there was a question that could be done by difference (prove the sum to infinity is 2)- that is a FM method that SM people couldn’t use. It’s certainly an advantage.


Ah fair enough. I did AQA single maths, which didn't have any opportunity to use further maths techniques
Original post by Paypurr
Totally, I worked so hard and revised so much but the real exams completely throw me off. I mean I did so many past papers and it seems like the real thing is never like the previous papers and they just wanna ruin your life on purpose lol


Don't think so. I just think the paper you do will virtually always seem like the hardest paper you've done so far (unless it's particularly easy maybe) because of the pressure of it being the final thing.
Original post by Paypurr
Totally, I worked so hard and revised so much but the real exams completely throw me off. I mean I did so many past papers and it seems like the real thing is never like the previous papers and they just wanna ruin your life on purpose lol

IKR, I get that exact same feeling they want to ruin your life on purpose no matter how prepared you have been
Reply 30
Avatar for Mabey
Mabey
17
Hoping for 3A*, but most likely:
Maths: A*
Further Maths: A*
Physics: A

Can never really tell with physics...
Original post by Mabey
Hoping for 3A*, but most likely:
Maths: A*
Further Maths: A*
Physics: A

Can never really tell with physics...


Out of curiosity, did you do edexcel further maths? If so, roughly what mark/300 (or percentage) do you reckon you got?
most ppl nowadays take 3 bc of linear exams
the fact that fm is a whole a level which is basically just a continuation of an existing a level will defo mean it will give those students an advantage. (so many unis say u cant do similar subjects like fm and maths)

chem students usually do better than those who do just biology, despite chem and bio being totally separate. it helps massively that theyre the same field, let alone same subject. u wont be credited for extra chem knowledge in ur bio exams, but because we learn certain concepts in more detail in chem, when they come up in bio, chem students have much higher confidence and ability bc theyve spent more time practising the same concept. (an example is amino acids) i joss repeated my point but ye. u made a good point that theyre already advantaged bc theyre already of higher maths ability which is why they chose fm in the first place, but admittedly......fm helps a lot


some long post uno
Original post by MagnumKoishi
It probably is true that it allows people to practise skills such as algebra, but it's nothing that single maths students couldn't easily achieve by revising. The techniques themselves learned in FM aren't very useful though in single maths

Also, most students take it as their fourth or fifth subject in addition to the ones they already do, so it doesn't replace any other subjects.

You are definitely right in that it gives extra confidence; it's not obvious how much of a material effect this would have though
(edited 4 years ago)
Reply 33
Avatar for Mabey
Mabey
17
Original post by MagnumKoishi
Out of curiosity, did you do edexcel further maths? If so, roughly what mark/300 (or percentage) do you reckon you got?

Nah I'm doing WJEC sorry, so I can't help with that.
Original post by Mabey
Nah I'm doing WJEC sorry, so I can't help with that.


Ah fair enough. There's a group trying to put together a load of people's marks for edexcel to predict the grade boundaries, nvm though
not even gone to waste, im just gonna feel useless / brainless lol how have i put in so much effort and work only to see mediocre grades? that'll make me so mad. but that's what will likely happen

Original post by The RAR
Same, I really want AAA but I will still be happy with ABB, anything below seems like my hard work has gone to waste
Original post by stimtothesky
In Edexcel this year FM students had a massive advantage. Sigma notation is barely given a mention in SM but is extensively covered in FM so the questions in paper 2 would’ve been a lot easier for a FM student. Plus there was a question that could be done by difference (prove the sum to infinity is 2)- that is a FM method that SM people couldn’t use. It’s certainly an advantage.


Idk, even the Edexcel textbook, which isn't the best, has an exercise dedicated to it. The format of the whole textbook is very strange (surely introducing sigma notation would be the first thing that's done), but seems to fit well to the mechanical approach too many teachers adopt. It's on both the old and the new spec so I don't think there's much reason not to be familiar with it.

Method of differences doesn't really require any specific knowledge but was regardless not the intended way to do the question, but log identities mean the two ways are equivalent.

I just don't understand the argument being made. Students who are exposed (or expose themselves) to more maths will naturally do better. This will be the case with further maths students but also plenty of single maths students.
Original post by anonymoussse
most ppl nowadays take 3 bc of linear exams
the fact that fm is a whole a level which is basically just a continuation of an existing a level will defo mean it will give those students an advantage. (so many unis say u cant do similar subjects like fm and maths)

chem students usually do better than those who do just biology, despite chem and bio being totally separate. it helps massively that theyre the same field, let alone same subject. u wont be credited for extra chem knowledge in ur bio exams, but because we learn certain concepts in more detail in chem, when they come up in bio, chem students have much more confidence and ability bc theyve spent more time practising the same concept. (an example is amino acids) i joss repeated my point but ye. u made a good point that theyre already advantaged bc theyre already of higher maths ability which is why they chose fm in the first place, but admittedly......fm helps a lot


some long post uno


On the contrary, most people I've encountered either do three or four subjects, plus further maths as a fourth or fifth.
My college only lets you do FM if you're already doing maths and TWO others, ie you have to be doing four or more subjects if you're doing FM. I assumed it worked like that everywhere
Original post by The RAR
IKR, I get that exact same feeling they want to ruin your life on purpose no matter how prepared you have been


The examiners are people too lol. Saying they want to ruin your life is a bit dramatic.
Reply 39
Avatar for JT_888
JT_888
20
I did this on another similar thread but anyways...

A-Level history: B? (Got A/A* in my coursework but found one of the papers absolutely horrendous and mucked up a 20 marker in another.)
A-Level economics: I really haven't got a clue B/C? (I reckon I might just have scrapped a B since I found each paper okay even the one that focused on financial market failure for the entirety of Section B).
A-Level sociology: A? (I've improved a lot in this subject since Year 12 and found all three papers quite nice - I can't see myself getting anything lower than a B though)

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